An analysis of male and female Olympic swimmers in the 200-meter events

Abstract

Videotapes of the swimming events at the 1988 Seoul Olympics were analyzed to obtain the stroke rate (SR) and stroke length (SL) for each swimmer. In this paper, SR and SL data from the 200-m events were combined with anthropometric data (height and age of the swimmers) and the final time achieved by each swimmer. Statistical analyses were then carried out to determine the relationships among the different variables and their correlation with final times. Differences in performances between male and female swimmers were also investigated. Stroke lengths were found to have high correlations with the final times achieved by the competitors. A strong relationship was also found between height and final time. On an average, the men were found to have a lower stroke rate and to be faster than the women. The latter finding could be a result of the men's longer stroke length and greater height.